Just to point out that in two recent interviews, both John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) and Karl Urban (Eomer) have commented on the situation; both those interviews are to be found here on TORn: - on Home, in news items about Karl Urban, new film 'Pathfinder' - on Main, in a post by a TORnsib about seeing JR-D (I must check it again and make this more precise...! 'Is everything sad going to come untrue?' (Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)

I didn't see either of those pieces of news mentioned here, so I thought some other people might be interested, both interviews are a great read. 'Is everything sad going to come untrue?' (Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)

I don't know yet how to make links, so I've copied the full interview and I'm trying to paste it on here. Let's see... Yay!!! It works!... The comments on 'The Hobbit' are in the very last para.

INTERVIEW OF KARL URBAN: 'THE PATHFINDER'

"I make films that I would like to go and see. I am a child of the 'Star Wars' generation and I like 'Star Trek,' and the other sci-fi fantasy stuff. I am a fan of the genre and if I get an opportunity to contribute to the genre then I really enjoy doing it."

He’s fought Orcs in “Lord of the Rings,” stood side-by-side with “Xena: The Warrior Princess” and decimated monsters with The Rock in “Doom.” This weekend, Karl Urban will be in battling a new kind of fight – one in which he is caught between two very different worlds.

Urban stars in Marcus Nispel’s action drama “Pathfinder,” a retelling of the 1987 Norwegian film “Ofelas.” Centuries ago, the Nordic Vikings stormed the shores of northeast America long before Christopher Columbus discovered the new world. During one of these visits, a boy named Ghost (Urban) is left behind and is raised by a Native American tribe. Fifteen years later the Vikings are back to claim their territory and a war with the Indians is in the midst, with Ghost’s loyalty trapped between two identities.

We talked to Karl on the phone about “Pathfinder,” his love for the sci-fi/action genre and his thoughts on the Peter Jackson situation.

Q: Back when we talked to you about “Doom,” you were looking at another project called “Outlander” which also had to do with Vikings. Is this completely by coincidence that you hopped on another Viking project?

KARL: It’s completely coincidental. What happened was I was looking to do “Outlander” and we were in the process of negotiations. For whatever reasons, I think they had to stall their production. It kind of went away for a while and then in the meantime, as I was looking for other material, “Pathfinder” surfaced. It was just a coincidence that there was a Viking element with them. So I ended up talking with Marcus Nispel and decided that “Pathfinder” was going to be my next film.

Q: Did you see the original Norwegian film?

KARL: Yes I did.

Q: Was that what attracted you to “Pathfinder.” It’s really an interesting tale about someone trying to find himself and see where his loyalties lie…

KARL: That’s exactly what attracted to me to it. Our story is essentially about a boy who is shipwrecked on the northeast coast of America and gets adopted by Indians and fifteen years later, this group of Vikings turns up and creates absolute mayhem. This young man has to decide where his loyalties lie and he decides he has to help the Indians defend themselves against these barbaric insurgents.

Q: I understand you did extensive research into the Wampanoag Indian culture?

KARL: I’ve always been intrigued by the Indian culture even way back as a kid. I would watch westerns and it was always the Indians I was rooting for. For me, this was a chance to play a character who was a pseudo-Indian and a character that was immersed in the Indian culture. This film is basically a hypothetical story about the clash of these two cultures. There is some documented evidence that the Vikings and Indians did actually meet up and sometimes those encounters went well and other times, they didn’t go well. But for the most part, they actually traded. The Vikings were heavily into trade and as I was reading about these two cultures, I became uniquely interested in both of them. I think our Vikings in this movie closely resemble a group called the Beserkers who were ostracized from their communities for being too violent and too out of control.

Q: I met Marcus a few years ago when “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” came out and it stuck me as odd that this joyful, new age guy could be the director of such a gory horror film. What was it like working with him?

KARL: I had such a great time working with him. We developed a real effective shorthand where he’s really knowledgeable about films and he’d constantly refer to other films when we talked about what we wanted to achieve. I think his forte is really strongly on the visual. There’s no element in his frame that he hasn’t purposely put there. I had a really great time working with him. Sometimes he’s completely mad and you’d wonder where he escaped from. I’ve been meaning to ask him if he’s ever been institutionalized. (laughs)

Q: You’ve done several action films lately but this one you said was the toughest for you physically. Can you elaborate on that?

KARL: First of all, we were shooting the movie going into winter so the temperatures were plummeting. The further we got into the shoot, the colder it got and my wardrobe at times was very limited. That was a challenge right off the bat. Secondly, because it is a very action oriented picture, there are a lot of running around and sword fighting. It’s inevitable that you’re going to get scrapes and bruises but I wasn’t quite prepared for how beat up I got on this job. I sustained an injury on the first day of shooting just walking down a hill and I didn’t warm up properly. I popped some tendon in my leg so I had to nurse that for a couple of weeks. It just seemed like every other day, it was something else. There’s also a sequence where I’m sliding down a mountain on a shield and my forearms got completely bruised and battered. We didn’t have a budget to do it using modern techniques where we could use CGI on a soundstage. We actually went to a mountain and I actually slid down it.

Q: Is there a sequence that you loved doing in particular?

KARL: I love all the battle stuff. That came off really well. My favorite part is the first interaction between my character and the Vikings. There’s a great fight and a really [great] chase.

Q: You have the action aspect but you have a bit of romance too. What was it like working with a young actress like Moon Bloodgood?

KARL: I had a great time working with Moon. She’s just a terrific actor. She plays the daughter of the neighboring village that I run off to. She plays a very smart yet feisty and capable young woman. Her character just gets right into the thick of it. It was a tough shoot and I saw her in one scene where the Vikings mistreat her and throw her around in the icy, muddy cold and she just did take after take and didn’t wince. That’s a real blessing. I’ve worked with some [actors] who would make an issue of it. They would ask to sit in a trailer between every take. She’s great. She’s solid.

Q: Is this film going to get a hard R rating?

KARL: I think it’s pretty hard. I don’t think it gets harder than it already is. I was quite shocked actually. When I signed onto the film, it was kind of a kids film and the script definitely didn’t lend itself to being overly violent but when they got Marcus to direct it, that kind of went out of the window pretty fast.

Q: From “Xena” to “Doom” to “The Lord of the Rings,” you seem to be a veteran of the fantasy sci-fi genre. Are you a fan of the genre and was this something you hoped to do as a kid?

KARL: Absolutely. I make films that I would like to go and see. I am a child of the “Star Wars” generation and I like “Star Trek,” and the other sci-fi fantasy stuff. I am a fan of the genre and if I get an opportunity to contribute to the genre then I really enjoy doing it. But as of late, I’ve enjoyed doing other things. I shot a western with Val Kilmer and Steve Zahn and had an absolute blast doing that. Then I shot another film that’s a recent period drama set in the 1990s about a massacre that took place at a sleepy seaside community in New Zealand. So I do get to mix it up.

Q: As an alumnus of “The Lord of the Rings” films, what’s your take on the Peter Jackson situation and the probability that he won’t have any involvement with “The Hobbit”?

KARL: I think it’s always a tragedy when commerce and business get in the way of the art and creativity. I think it would be a real casualty if Peter didn’t have a hand in directing “The Hobbit.” It’ll be interesting to see. I just pray that those two parties can amicably resolve their differences. I know it looks pretty hopeless at the moment but you never know. I’m hoping Pete will be able to return to direct “The Hobbit” because the fans really deserve to have that continuity. “The Lord of the Rings” films generated over 3 billion dollars at the box office and they were just a phenomenal commercial and critical success and it would be a shame if we didn’t have this complete volume of Tolkien work translated to film by a man who has done it so well.

"Pathfinder" opens in theaters Friday April 13th. 'Is everything sad going to come untrue?' (Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)

"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded b*****d with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.

by Annael (gone to page 2 of Pollantir by now); there is a pic of Karl in 'Pathfinder' that says it all...! Suddenly that movie looks sooo interesting !!! He won the poll, by the way,.. and I was one of those who voted for him, no doubt! 'Is everything sad going to come untrue?' (Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)

just copy and pasting the URL, if unable to make it live, then people can just copy and paste it into their browser.

But to see how you do links, click on the 'Get Markup Help' when making a post. Its above the reply text box and icons. Scroll down the page and the URL code/tags are at the bottom. It should be pretty self explanatory once you see it there.